Doré Bible Tarot

To Jesus on the Mount as the Hierophant as "Revealer of Mysteries". The Hierophant the mediator between God & man. Serves as the bridge between those realms as the *external* expression of God's Word. Also as the communicator, facilitator, translator of God's Word.

The High Priestess as the "Keeper of Mysteries". Depiction of The Annunciation strikes as appropriate due the role as the figurative & literal 'vessel'; hence, as the *internal* expression.

Btw: Not Christian; however, prevents not the appreciation of the Bible on its own merits (as with other Holy Books). Hence, view the development of this deck with much interest & awe.

Moonchild said:

Moses gave us the Word, but Jesus told us what it meant. And that's what a Hierophant should do, IMHO.

One Love All Love,
Moonchild

Click to expand...

Sermon on the Mount it is then!

Rationality is not always a bad thing; just I've got fed up with people decrying things as "unrealistic"/"irrational" when sometimes that's what you have to be to create a paradigm shift, which in turn keeps humanity progressing. But there are also times when, as you say, sometimes truths have to be revealed rather than merely kept.

Maybe I will readjust my response to the Hierophant so he is a genuine complement for rather than an opponent to the High Priestess.

Kiama said:

This is because the term "Hierophant" is from the Greek "hierophany" which means "manifestation of the sacred", and was often used to refer to ways in which the Gods showed their desires/wishes/intentions to man. (Usually lightning from Zeus.)

Click to expand...

Right, but didn't Moses have lightning from Zeus? His Law was carved in stone, for goodness sake, without much room for misinterpretation. Is that why most people don't prefer Moses? Because he was too by-the-book? Hide-bound Hierophant?

OLAL,
Moonchild

catlin said:

Very thougthful selection of pictures but I think you either need a book to go with or you have to know the Bible very well to understand all cards.

Click to expand...

Yes, there will be a book. (Well, actually, there already IS one!!!)
Do you think I should put the biblical book and chapter on the bottom of each card, like I have it on my site?

Kiama said:

This is because the term "Hierophant" is from the Greek "hierophany" which means "manifestation of the sacred", and was often used to refer to ways in which the Gods showed their desires/wishes/intentions to man.

Click to expand...

Like Tarot, huh? Bob O'Neill once told me that prayer is our way of talking to God, and Tarot is our way of letting God talk to us.

Moonchild said:

Yes, there will be a book. (Well, actually, there already IS one!!!)
Do you think I should put the biblical book and chapter on the bottom of each card, like I have it on my site?

Click to expand...

Perhaps, but I would keep it unobtrusive. I suppose otherwise it might limit anyone who would rather use this deck intuitively. Others may disagree - and I can see that it isn't designed primarily as an intuitive deck (it's a bit like our Fairytale Tarot in that way - it will probably work best if readers know the story of each card), but I think some people may prefer to have some leeway to use their intuition so I'd keep references/keywords etc to a minimum.

It's a fascinating deck. I'm one of those people on the run from a fairly rigid Christian upbringing (my parents weren't rigid at all, but my community was - I used to be chased around school by girls demanding to know why I had missed church attendance!) so I would have some personal blocks about using this deck, but the artwork is beautiful and I appreciate the care with which you're doing the correspondences.

Moonchild said:

Yes, there will be a book. (Well, actually, there already IS one!!!)
Do you think I should put the biblical book and chapter on the bottom of each card, like I have it on my site?

Click to expand...

Yes, I think so, that would be of help. But - as baba-prague - already said, keep it unobtrusive.

Moonchild said:

Right, but didn't Moses have lightning from Zeus? His Law was carved in stone, for goodness sake, without much room for misinterpretation. Is that why most people don't prefer Moses? Because he was too by-the-book? Hide-bound Hierophant?

Click to expand...

Weeeeellll...not exactly. The Hebrew word for the "commandments" is Dibrot or Dvarim (in Rabbinical Hebrew). That does not mean commandments, but words or statements. It can also be translated as "guidelines", in modern parlance. When translating from the Hebrew, there are many possible interpretations. And even in Biblical Hebrew, as words have many meanings, there is much room for interpretation. That's why we've been arguing about those ten statements for 5000 years . As soon as you fix them in translation (into any language), you lose that flexibility. But Moses himself - or God - did not "lay down the law" in those 10 statements. They merely suggested these were civilised rules to follow, and had divine blessing. They also represent the passage from the oral and arbitrary rules of the Pharaohs to written words - or from mantra to a rule that can then be debated and called upon. So in fact, Moses (and God!) freed the Jews by giving them sensible guidelines, which could be interpreted in various ways, to suit various situations, but which also protected the ordinary guy against arbitrary pronouncements.

Moses was betrayed by his translators, in other words, and by an autocratic Establishment. But in reality he stands for enlightened freedom. Didn't he guide the Jews out of servitude in Egypt? I rather like that figure as Hierophant: because freedom is the highest form of manifestation of the sacred.

Have to chime in...

I love Dore's work and I think it's fantastic what you've done with it. Please let us know when you publish it!

Empress and Emperor

I am so not happy with the images for Empress and Emperor, but they are the best of what I have. The woman clothed with the sun is great for Empress, since the description applies so aptly to Mother Earth. But it's such a crappy picture.
Solomon I wanted to use for Hermit ("All is vanity!"), but I didn't have any other suitable Emperor. No pictures of David sitting down! The only other choice would have been Jesus and his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus as the Hierophant at least matches up with Mary as HP, but I am so bugged by the "mismatch" of Solomon and the woman from Revelations. In my *next* Bible Tarot, I want to use Leah and Jacob as III and IV, with Sarah and Abraham as runners-up.

One Love All Love,
Moonchild